Historical data on uses of the pitcher plant spp. (i.e. Sarracenia spp.) demonstrate efficacy as a digestive aid and anti-viral (webmd.com, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3302891/), having been employed as a medicine in early pharmacies, but never studied as to the exact effect on the immune system. However, work done on the present invention has identified that the carnivorous plant(s), Sarracenia flava and Sarracenia purpurea (pitcher plant) and mixed hybrids or related species thereof, have the capability to decrease and stabilize fibrinogen levels, and do so quite dramatically.
Fibrinogen is a precursor acute-phase reactant protein produced by the liver in response to signals of systemic circulating cytokines, possibly as an effort to stimulate a healing reaction within the immune system. It is involved in the creation of clots, atherosclerosis, and generalized inflammation. In the systemic circulation, it gets converted to fibrin, which the present invention has determined can be homeostatically used by fibroblast and myofibroblast cells to heal or build tissues. Excess fibrinogen increases inflammation, cancer and over-deposition of tissues, such as scar tissues. Fibroblast and myofibroblast activities are regulated by proteins called fibroblast growth factors (FGF), of which there are 23 identified currently (Mueller and Fusenig 2011 and Baird and Klagsbrun 1991). These growth factors are dependent on the presence of glutathione, which are found within the growth factors.